March 1995
It was 3 a.m. when Sally Magnuson looked in on her 10-year-old son Jesse and saw him lying on his back struggling to breathe. He had been up all night wheezing and trying to catch his breath. Terrified, Magnuson immediately rushed him to Kaiser hospital in San Francisco where he was given steroid and oxygen treatment for a severe asthma attack.
When doctors asked Magnuson what medicine Jesse was taking for his asthma, she replied that he was using herbal therapy-a mixture of herbs brewed into tea. As one doctor looked at Magnuson in disbelief, another doctor told Magnuson that while the ingredients in the herbs are similar to those in the steroid treatment, the concentration of those herbs could never equal the strength needed for treatment of an asthma attack.
Studies show that Magnuson is not the only American choosing Eastern medicine over more conventional Western medicine. A May l994 report in American Druggist found that Americans spend $l4 billion annually for natural or "holistic" medicine, an Eastern philosophy that combines the health of the mind, body and spirit.
The report also found that Americans visit alternative care providers more often than their primary care physicians. The trend is hitting academia as well. San Francisco State University is opening its own holistic health center in May.
Laypersons uneducated about the many potions, lotions and herbs used in holistic health and herbology-the practice of using herbs for healing purposes-take the practice of medicine into their own hands. Dark brown bottles containing plant extracts, bulbous roots and pungent herbs are attractive to those who are afraid of the pills and capsules prescribed by Western doctors. However, serious injury and death can result from ignorance about herbal treatments. Recently, the South Chinese Morning Post, Hong KongÕs major daily paper, reported that the Chinese may soon have to obtain prescriptions for herbal medicines. China, the source for most of holistic medicine, reported several deaths last year from the misuse of herbs.
"Herbs, like vitamins, can be harmless. But if you take too much, even vitamin C can be dangerous," says Angela Shen, an SFSU holistic health instructor who runs a Chinese healing center in San Francisco. Shen says people often equate "natural" with harmless and has known several people, including other holistic practioners and students, who have become ill from taking the wrong amount of seemingly harmless herbs and plants. "My favorite example is ginseng (a root colored either red or white) because people know the name and they think that's the answer for everything," Shen says. "But there are several types of ginseng, and if you take the wrong type you can die. Korean ginseng, which is red, can cause people with high blood pressure to have a stroke or a heart attack. American ginseng, however, can cause people with low blood pressure to faint. In some cases it can even cause retardation in children."
Although Shen recommends that people see a practitioner trained in Chinese medicine before they experiment with herbs, she doesn't feel it should be mandatory or that the industry should be strictly regulated.
"I think it's an issue of balance. Just because guns kill people, should we do away with guns? Who should be holding the gun and who should not be? We need to educate the public-maybe put more information on the packaging. But the public needs to take responsibility as well, and make the effort to become educated and see someone whoÕs been trained in this type of medicine," Shen says.
Money may be a barrier to a layperson's herbal education as it can be costly to visit a holistic practitioner (Shen charges up to $70 per visit) and most insurance will not cover this type of medicine. Therefore, many people choose to find their own way along the herbal path. Eric Black, a customer at Real Foods grocery on Polk Street, a store that sells holistic treatments, says he listens to his friends and, in particular, his girlfriend, when choosing holistic medicines. "She's been using herbs for years and I think she knows what sheÕs doing." Black admits heÕs never been to a holistic clinic, or even read a book on herbology.
Customers like Black, who take herbal treatments without the supervision of a trained holistic practitioner, often pose a problem for the retailers of those herbs. Susan Jacobs, who buys the vitamin and health and beauty lines for the Real Food chain says the company is forced to walk a "fine line between giving information about the products and actually prescribing treatments."
Jacobs says people often come into the stores asking advice about the different herbs and medicines. The salespeople are allowed, she says, only to say "what has worked for them personally and perhaps show the customer any literature we may have on the treatment." Jacobs adds, "We want to be helpful, but at the same time we respect the government's rules about not dispelling information."
Although government regulation in the holistic healing industry does exist, according to Alex McCormick, a compliance officer with the Food and Drug Administration, the government's involvement is relatively minimal. "We look primarily for toxic substances and items that are manufactured outside of this country. But the FDA is downsizing, and unless thereÕs been a real problem, we don't have the time to watch too closely." McCormick adds that the governmentÕs primary concern is that products don't "make tremendous claims such as being the cure for cancer."
Magnuson says her son's experience with herbology has not deterred her from the practice, but she does plan to do more research on the subject. "What happened to Jesse made me feel like I had minimized something that was really serious. I've always been wary of Western medicine. I felt the drugs used could be harmful. After what happened with my son, I've now decided to explore the full spectrum of treatmentsÑboth Western and Eastern."